Update with video: Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick to step down

AP Photo/Carlos OsorioDetroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick sits in Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit, Thursday. pleaded guilty to a pair of felony obstruction charges in a sex-and-misconduct scandal and will step down after months of defiantly holding onto his job. The mayor made the plea during a court hearing Thursday morning in a perjury and misconduct case. He later offered a no contest plea in an assault case.

DETROIT — Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to a pair of felony obstruction charges on Thursday in a sex-and-misconduct scandal and will step down after months of defiantly holding onto his job leading the nation's 11th-largest city.

The plea deal brings to an end a seven-months-long sex scandal that led to felony charges against Kilpatrick and plunged the city, region and state into political chaos.

"I lied under oath," Kilpatrick said in court.

As part of the deal, the 38-year-old Democrat is to serve four months in jail, five years of probation and pay $1 million in restitution over the probationary period. Payments from his state pension must be assigned to the city of Detroit toward the restitution. He also cannot run for any elected office for five years and loses his law license.

During a separate hearing moments after Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner accepted the mayor's plea, Kilpatrick offered a no contest plea in an assault case.

The judge also accepted that plea, which called for Kilpatrick to serve a four-month jail sentence that would run at the same time.

Watch the videos of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's plea.

Kilpatrick had faced 10 felony counts in the two separate criminal cases and could have faced up to 15 years in prison had he been convicted of perjury.

When all was said and done Thursday, Kilpatrick got up, motioned to his wife, Carlita, to come forward. They then embraced, and he kissed her forehead and cheek.

Groner asked Kilpatrick if he understood he was giving up the right to be innocent until proven guilty.

"I gave that up a long time ago," Kilpatrick replied.

The married mayor and former top aide Christine Beatty were charged in March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They're accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief.

Beatty did not plead guilty and next will appear in court on Sept. 11. Groner said a plea deal in Beatty's case appeared likely.

The mayor will be sentenced on Oct. 28. He will report to jail that day, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

"We did not give an inch and these conditions were basically to a letter of what we wanted all along," she said.

The mayor has to announce his resignation immediately, and it will become effective within two weeks.

A one-sentence letter signed by Kilpatrick and filed with the court states his resignation will take place Sept. 18.

Worthy said she was glad that Kilpatrick resigned but that was never a "bargaining chip" for her. She said paying restitution and serving time in jail were far more important.

"You don't just lose your job and walk away," she said.

Kilpatrick read a statement in court and admitted his guilt:

"I lied under oath in the case of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope versus the city of Detroit, Case No. 03317557NZ, regarding information that was relevant to claims made by Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope. I did so with an intent to mislead the court and jury and to impede and obstruct the fair administration of justice."

City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. will succeed Kilpatrick as mayor until a special election is held. Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, who was appointed by Kilpatrick, announced her retirement Thursday, effective immediately.

Lucius Vassar, director of the city's Workforce Development program, would not comment on media reports that other Kilpatrick appointees had resigned.

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm described the events of the day as "a sad but historic story" that's coming to an end.

"A public office is entrusted to the person who holds that office but belongs to the people who are served by that office," she said.

She also suspended a hearing that she had started Wednesday to determine whether he should be removed from office for misconduct, a power granted to governors in the Michigan constitution. Granholm said the proceedings were rendered moot since Kilpatrick agreed to resign.

She also pleaded for the community to show compassion and pray for the mayor's family.

"I would ask all of us to pray for this city ... and see this as an opportunity to build a great city and region together -- city and suburb, east and west, north and south," she said.

William Goodman, the City Council attorney, said he thinks the mayor did the right thing by stepping down.

"I think it's very sad for his family. My sympathy is with them. I think it's sad for the people of Detroit," he said. "We'll all ... both grieve together and today we can look forward to moving on and reclaiming the city as a thriving and productive community that has so much to offer for all of us and for this country."

Until now, Kilpatrick had refused to resign even as the calls for him to step down grew louder and the controversy overshadowed all else at City Hall, tarnishing the national image of the much-maligned city even more.

It made the most sense to make a deal in advance of a potential removal by Granholm because the mayor's office was his biggest bargaining chip -- one he would have lost had he waited until the governor ousted him.

Kilpatrick leaves a mixed legacy. He persuaded big business to invest in a city staggering from the auto industry's woes and a decades-long exodus of people, but he failed to live up to a promising political future due to repeated scandal.

The son of a Detroit congresswoman, Kilpatrick was just 31 when he was elected in 2001, becoming the youngest mayor in city history.

His bold, pro-black, pro-Detroit rhetoric and diamond stud earring endeared Kilpatrick to many blacks, especially young voters who embraced the "Hip-Hop Mayor." But many whites in the suburbs began to see him as another Coleman Young, whose 20-plus years at City Hall deepened the racial rift between Detroit and its neighbors.

He was the biggest cheerleader when Detroit landed Major League Baseball's 2005 All-Star Game and the 2006 NFL Super Bowl. His ability to work with business leaders also has been credited with an overhaul of the city's riverfront and development downtown.

But Kilpatrick's first term was marked by political immaturity and fiscal irresponsibility. He racked up thousands of dollars in travel on his city-issued credit card and the city's lease of a luxury Lincoln Navigator for his wife, Carlita.

Less than a year into the first term, rumors surfaced of a wild party involving strippers and members of Kilpatrick's security team at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's residence along the Detroit River.

AP Photo/Carlos OsorioDetroit City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr., the city's incoming mayor, stands with his family as he addresses the media in the Council Chambers in Detroit, Thursday. Cockrel will take over as mayor in two weeks.

He has denied the rumors, and a state investigation backed him up. But a civil lawsuit pending in federal court claims a woman who performed at the party was beaten with a baseball bat by Carlita Kilpatrick, who arrived home unexpectedly.

The woman, Tamara Greene, was fatally shot outside her home in 2003. The lawsuit claims Kilpatrick, then-chief of staff Beatty and police officials stifled the investigation. Her death is unsolved.

Whether truth or urban legend, that stew eventually brought down Kilpatrick.

Former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown filed a lawsuit in 2003, claiming he was fired for looking into the alleged party and investigating the actions of the mayor's bodyguards.

During the 2007 trial, Kilpatrick and Beatty sat in the witness chair and denied having a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003.

But a bombshell rocked Detroit in January: The Detroit Free Press published sexually explicit text messages recovered from Beatty's city-issued pager that contradicted their courtroom denials.

After nearly a week of self-imposed exile, Kilpatrick emerged in late January -- Carlita at his side -- to address the city live on television.

"I truly apologize to you," Kilpatrick said, turning to his wife, who held his hand at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ.

"I am the mayor," Kilpatrick told Detroit residents, looking into the camera. "I made the mistake."

He and Beatty were charged with perjury and other felonies. Detroit's mayor was fingerprinted and his mug shot was distributed around the world, but Kilpatrick remained in office.

More text messages released in April revealed the evolution of flirty and sexually explicit exchanges to professions of love and promises of marriage.

In September 2002, Beatty described a sex act she wanted to perform on the mayor. He replied: "Next time, just tell me to sit down, shut up and do your thing!"

Later that month, Beatty wrote to the mayor: "I love you so much man! Thank you for showing what it's like to be head over heels in love."

In May, the City Council asked Granholm to remove Kilpatrick from office, saying it was misled into approving a $8.4 million settlement with Brown and two other officers. Council members said they didn't know about provisions to keep the text messages under wraps.

Kilpatrick's spiral downward continued.

In July, a sheriff's detective trying to serve a subpoena on a Kilpatrick friend said he was shoved by the mayor and showered with F-words. Assault charges followed.

The next month, a judge ordered the mayor to jail for violating the terms of his bond by traveling to Windsor, Ontario, on business without notifying authorities. He was released the next day, but the incident prompted some politicians and community leaders who had remained silent on the scandal to call for his resignation.

At one point, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's camp even said Kilpatrick, a superdelegate, would be a distraction at the Democratic National Convention. Kilpatrick, whose bond kept his travel limited to the metro Detroit area, did not attend. On Thursday, a Michigan spokesman for Obama said the mayor's immediate resignation is the only way for the city "to move forward and get back to business."